AOPA chief named chairman of RTCA

Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) President Craig Fuller has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of RTCA, Inc., the corporation that is charged with developing consensus-based recommendations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance, and air traffic management system issues for the FAA.

Fuller takes over from Agam Sinha, a senior vice president of The MITRE Corp. Joining him on the 2012 board of directors are: Nick Calio, president and CEO of Airlines for America; Ed Bolen, president and CEO of the National Business Aviation Association; Margaret Jenny, RTCA president; and Sinha.

“I look forward to continuing the important work of RTCA, especially as the organization continues the important work of advising FAA on critical air space issues including NextGen, the Global Navigation Satellite System, and Free Flight Implementation,” said Fuller. “I have found RTCA is the place where the aviation community gathers to develop an understanding around complex issues and build the necessary consensus in recommendations to move the community forward.”

Comments

Whatever it is they don’t like it. NextGen will require ICAO flight plans to communicate to the FAA what equipment are on the aircraft. For at least 10 yearsÂ now, the AOPA has opposed the use of ICAO flight plans.

So now they are arguing on the committee. Great maybe they will ask for more than 26 letters in the alphabet so we can have /A-Z and more as the equipment suffix in the NAS format.